Blood test at 28wks

[Zuzi]

Hi, I went along to my 28wk appointment 2 weeks ago. Midwife couldn't take my blood after one failed attemps as I always get too anxious, so referred me to the nurse. It took two further attempts (and a different nurse) to draw enough blood for the screening. Now, my results got lost! I am very annoyed at this and considering my options. Having the blood test retaken - this is not really something I want to do again as I have quite a strong needle phobia and it always takes numerous attempts to draw blood. Or go to see a GP and ask for the iron tablets without actually knowing if I need them. My question is: will the iron supplement harm me or the baby if I am not anaemic?

poor you - thats really frustrating that they've lost your results. Can you go to the hospital phlebotomy dept? Whenever I go to have blood taken there, I never even realise they're doing it (guess they're so experienced by doing it all day, every day) whereas with my midwife or nurse it really bloody hurts!

Or, there is a cream you can have applied (takes half an hr to work) - they use it for taking blood from children, and it numbs the area so you don't feel needle go in so much (I only know this because one of my children has to have lots of blood tests & they use this cream before hand). Perhaps you could request that half an hr before hand?

Taking iron even if you dont need it wont harm you or baby - your body will just excrete what it doesnt need. However, if you don't need the extra iron, you may well find you get very constipated if you're throwing loads of extra iron at your system....make sure you buy a liquid iron supplement like Floradix or Spatone to avoid any constipation problems.

Thank you icravecheese. They actually used the phlebotomist at the surgery and it still took two attempts. I was also considering the EMLA cream. I now made an appoitment to see the GP in the morning, see what she says. But I probably end up buying Floradix or Spatone as you suggested. Eating loads prunes, dry dates and linseeds already to soften everything, so hopefully constipation will not be an issue (anyway, it wasn't in my previous two pregnancies when I was taking the iron tablets in my last trimester.)

I can realy recomend Spatone. It's basically ironwater from the welsh mountains in a sachet (tastes revolting on its own) but mixed with orange juice you can't taste it. It does not cause constipation etc and the bumpf on it says that if your iron levels are alrwady fine, your body just excretes any extra with no harm.

I came back from the surgery with two packets of iron tablets, will pop in to the health shop to stock up on the liquid iron though. The doctor recommended the blood test to be retaken but was happy to prescribe the iron supplement.